Protecting children from online harm – Coalition policy on age verification trial

A federal Coalition Government will invest
in age verification technology to help protect Australian children from online
harm.

Opposition Leader
Peter Dutton said an elected Coalition Government will provide an additional
$6.7 million, over two years, to the eSafety Commission to conduct a trial
aimed at reducing the access of children to harmful online content, such as
pornography.

“There are growing
concerns of how extreme, offensive and denigrating online images can normalise
unacceptable behaviour, particularly in relation to women and girls,” Mr Dutton
said.

“Families spend an
increasing amount of time online; we want to help parents protect their kids
from the damaging impacts this sort of content has on our kids.”

Mr Dutton unveiled
the commitment in Brisbane where he met with representatives of key advocacy
groups; Bravehearts, the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, and Collective Shout.

Shadow
Communications Minister David Coleman said the Albanese Government had been
condemned for rejecting the recommendation of its own eSafety Commissioner for
a trial.

“Labor’s decision to
oppose an age verification trial was criticised by more than 45 top child and
women’s safety leaders who wrote to the Prime Minister and Minister,” Mr
Coleman said.

“The National
Children’s Safety Commissioner expressed disappointment at the Government’s
announcement, but the pornography industry welcomed it.”

“We’ve also learnt
from an FOI this week that the Minister considered that conducting a trial
would ‘unnecessarily distract’ industry from developing new codes.”

Mr Coleman said he
would introduce a Private Member’s Bill into Parliament on Monday seeking to
amend the Online
Safety Act to legislate for the Minister to carry out a trial.